Renewable corner guard



May 9, 1967 B. E. STENTZ RENEWABLE CORNER GUARD Filed Nov. 7, 1963 INVENTOR. BLAIR E. STENTZ ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofilice 3,318,061 RENEWABLE CORNER GUARD Blair E. Stentz, Murfreesboro, Tenn., assignor to United Service Equipment Co., Inc., Palmer, Mass., at corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 7, 1963, Ser. No. 322,155 3 Claims. (Cl. 52-288) This invention relates to a wall corner guard, and more particularly to a corner guard for protecting corners. The corner-guard, according to the instant invention, has a removably mounted resilientbumper.

In large buildings, for example, hospitals, hotels or schools, the corridors are subjected to heavy tramc. Open archways and 90 outside corners in these buildings are often chipped or otherwise damaged by accidental bumping by service carts, stretchers, laundry carts, etc. Besides presenting an unsightly appearance the damaged corners require a great deal of maintenance.

The corner beads of the prior art, have protected such corners to some extent, but when applied to building corners they are covered with a plaster coat and are therefore still susceptible to damage.

External or exposed building corner guards, constructed of steel, have also been used in the past. However, in order to withstand severe blows to which they are subjected from time to time they must be constructed of extremely heavy guage steel. Even corner guards constructed of 12-gauge steel often are damaged by heavy impacts. If a corner guard of this type becomes damaged it is even more of a problem to repair or replace than is a plaster corner.

It is an object of this invention to provide a corner guard which has an impact absorbing element and therefore, is not permanently damaged by normal impact.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a corner guard and corner guard assembly which has a replaceable corner bumper.

Another object of this invention is to provide a corner guard which is adaptable to either old or new construction.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a corner guard which can be quickly and easily installed.

Further objects of this invention will become apparent from the following specification and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, perspective view, with parts broken away, of a building corridor and illustrating a corner guard assembly, which is constructed according to the instant invention, installed in an existing building;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, horizontal, sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. .1;

FIG. 3 is a'fragmentary, horizontal, sectional view similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating a corner guard, according to the instant invention, installed in a new building; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, perspective view showing a replaceable bumper being removed from a corner guard embodying the invention.

Briefly, the present invention is a corner guard for protecting outside corners. The corner guard comprises an elongated base member having two outwardly extending side members. A seat portion is defined between the side members. A removably mounted elastomeric bumper is secured within the seat portion and means are provided for connecting the corner guard to a building corner.

Referring to FIG. 3 of the drawings, a corner guard constructed according to the instant invention is generally indicated by the reference number 10. FIG. 3 shows the corner guard as being of a unitary or one-piece construction and FIG. 2 shows such a guard 10a having a two-piece construction.

3,318,06 l Patented May 9, 1967 The corner guard 10 (FIG. 3) comprises an elongated base 11 having two outwardly extending sides 12. The sides 12 are usually perpendicular with respect to each other, except when the corner is not a right angle corner. A dovetail shaped seat portion 13 is defined by the base 11 and inwardly directed and converging retaining lips 14 connect the base 11 to the sides 12. An elastomeric bumper 1'5 is removably secured within the seat portion 13 by the retaining lips 14. The bumper 15 has an outer bumper portion and an inner dovetail portion which is releasably seated in the seat portion 13. The bumper 15 also has longitudinally extending side recesses which mate with the retaining lips .14.

Free ends 16 of the sides 12, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, are offset inwardly a distance equal to the thickness of a standard plaster coat 17.

Holes 18 are provided in the outer portion-s of the ends 16. When the corner guard 10 is used in a wall having open mesh metal lath as shown in the upper right portion of FIG. 3, clips or wires 19 extend through the holes 1 8 and connect the corner guard 10 directly to the lath. When the corner guard is placed in a wall having a wooden member, for example, a stud 21, nails or screws 20 are driven through the holes .18 for securing the guard in place. Such construction is shown in the lower left portion of FIG. 3. Both of the connections illustrated in FIG. 3 are particularly adapted to new construction. The plaster coat 17 hides both the connections 19 and 2t presenting a pleasing final appearance.

A second embodiment of the instant invention particularly adaptable to existing constructions is illustrated in FIG. 2. Acorner guard lilo comprises two longitudinally extending sides 12a. Major portions of the sides 12a are normal to each other, thereby facilitating installation on a building corner. Inner ends of the sides 1.2a are overlapped defining an elongated base 11a. A dovetail shaped seat portion 13a is defined by the base 11a and by inwardly directed retaining lips 14a. An elastomeric bumper 15a is removably secured within the seat portion 1311 by the retaining lips 14a which mate with the longitudinally extending side recesses on the bumper 15a. The side recesses are located adjacent an inner dovetail portion of the bumper 15a. Ends 16a of the sides 12a are provided with vertical rows of holes 18a and the base 11a is provided with a vertical row of holes 24. In this embodiment, the ends 16a are flat members and do not have the offset portions shown in the FIG. 3 embodiment.

When the corner guard assembly 10a is applied to old construction as is depicted in FIG. 2, existing structural material 25 is removed. Mounting holes 26 which are coaxial with the holes 18a and 24 are drilled through the plaster coat 17a and the structural material 25. The structural material 25 is illustrated in FIG. 2 as being concrete but the corner guard assembly 10a can be used in any type construction, for examples, wood or cement block.

Expansive inserts 27, for example, fiber plugs, are driven into the mounting holes 26 and mounting screws 28 are inserted through the holes 18a and 24 into the plugs. Insertion of the screws 28 expands the plugs 27 to retain the corner assembly 10a to the building corner.

Referring to FIG. 4, the resilient elastomeric bumper 15a is removably mounted within the dovetail seat portion 13a. The removal and replacement procedure relates to the two-piece construction shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, however, the procedure is identical when the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is utilized. Preferably, the bumper 15a is hollow. In the present embodiment the bumper 15a has a rectaugularly shaped hollow opening extending throughout its length. The bumper 15a can be peeled from the seat portion 13a by applying a downward and outward force, for example, at point P. This force places a back surface 30 of the bumper 15a in tension thereby stretching the elastomeric material. The hollow center area of the bumper 15a provides relief space during the stretching operation. The stretching reduces the transverse dimension of the back surface 31) to a smaller size to enable the bumper 15a to be pulled past the inwardly directed retaining lips 14a. A new bumper (not shown) can be inserted within the seat portion 18a by reversing the above procedure.

FIG. 1 shows a corner guard assembly generally indicated by the reference number 31 in place on a door frame 32. The assembly 31 comprises two corner bumper guards a having the adjacent side members 12a constructed in a one-piece manner, forming a unitary end member. The entire corner guard assembly 31 is attached to the frame 32 by the mounting screws 28, as shown in FIG. 2, or by other suitable fastening means. The side members 12a are horizontally spaced from one another a distance equal to the width of the jamb portion of the door frame 32. An end member extends perpendicularly between the spaced side members and is installed adjacent the jamb portion of the doorway or door frame 32. The dimensions of any particular corner guard assembly 31 will depend on the size of the building corner on which it is installed.

Similarly, such a dual corner guard assembly 31 can be used on new construction by using, for example, the fastening means illustrated in FIG. 3.

While the present invention has been disclosed in connection with a specific arrangement, it should be expressly understood that numerous modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A corner guard, for use on a building wall corner wherein said wall has a plaster layer of a predetermined thickness comprising, in combination, an elongated base member, two elongated side members extending outwardly from said base member and having inwardly directed retaining lips, said base member and said side members defining a dovetailed seat, said side members having inwardly oif-set outer ends, said off-set being equal to such predetermined thickness of such plaster layer, an elastomeric bumper removably retained within such dovetailed seat, said bumper having opposed longitudinally extending arcuate recesses, said retaining lips mating with such side recesses when said bumper is retained in such dovetailed seat, and mounting means on said side members for securing said building corner guard to a building corner.

2. A corner guard assembly for buildings for use in a doorway having a predetermined jamb width, said assembly comprising, in combination, two vertically extending, parallel, and horizontally spaced side members, said side members being spaced from each other a distance substantially the same as such predetermined jamb width, an end member extending perpendicularly between said side members and suitable for installation adjacent the jamb portion of such doorway, dovetailed seats defined by each of said side members and said end member at the intersections thereof, said dovetailed seats including inwardly directed retaining lips, an elastomeric bumper removably retained within each of such dovetailed seats, said bumper having a dovetailed portion and opposed longitudinally extending side recesses defined adjacent said dovetailed portion, said retaining lips mating with such side recesses when said dovetailed portion of said bumper is removably positioned within said dovetailed seats, and mounting means on said side members for ecuring said corner guard assembly to a building corner.

3. A corner guard for use on a building wall corner comprising, in combination, two elongated side members having outer portions and adjacent inner portions, said outer portions of said side members positioned in planes generally perpendicular to one another, the inner ends of said inner portions of said side members overlapping one another, each of said inner portions of said side members having an inwardly directed retaining lip, said retaining lips being in a spaced opposed relationship to one another and with said overlapped ends defining therebetween a longitudinally extending dovetailed seat, an elastomeric bumper removably retained within such dovetailed seat, said bumper having a dovetailed portion and opposed longitudinally extending side recesses defined adjacent said dovetailed portion, said retaining lips mating with such side recesses when said dovetailed portion of said elastomeric bumper is removably positioned within said dovetailed seat, said elastomeric bumper having a longitudinally extending centrally disposed hollow relieved area adjacent said retaining lips, and mounting means for securing said side members to a building corner.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED sTATEs PATENTS 214,774 2/1923 Heathcock 248345.l 1,936,113 9/1927 Jelliife 248-345.1 2,685,147 1/1952 Burr 248-345.1 2,880,478 11/ 1955 Lawson 52-716 FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

A, B. WILLIAMS, C. MUELLER, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A CORNER GUARD, FOR USE ON A BUILDING WALL CORNER WHEREIN SAID WALL HAS A PLASTER LAYER OF A PREDETERMINED THICKNESS COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, AN ELONGATED BASE MEMBER, TWO ELONGATED SIDE MEMBERS EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM SAID BASE MEMBER AND HAVING INWARDLY DIRECTED RETAINING LIPS, SAID BASE MEMBER AND SAID SIDE MEMBERS DEFINING A DOVETAILED SEAT, SAID SIDE MEMBERS HAVING INWARDLY OFF-SET OUTER ENDS, SAID OFF-SET BEING EQUAL TO SUCH PREDETERMINED THICKNESS OF SUCH PLASTER LAYER, AN ELASTOMERIC BUMPER REMOVABLY RETAINED WITHIN SUCH DOVETAILED SEAT, SAID BUMPER HAVING OPPOSED LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING ARCUATE RECESSES, SAID RETAINING LIPS MATING WITH SUCH SIDE RECESSES WHEN SAID BUMPER IS RETAINED IN SUCH DOVETAILED SEAT, AND MOUNTING MEANS ON SAID SIDE MEMBERS FOR SECURING SAID BUILDING CORNER GUARD TO A BUILDING CORNER. 